Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting What rifle do you carry?

Being how the rifle is probably the heaviest single item in a pack - what do you carry? A lightweight or make up a few oz elsewhere?

Steep country: My Kimber 84L Montana in .30-06, 6#14 oz all up. Barrel is cut at 22". Iron sights added.

Most often: M70 SS FW All-Terrain .30-06, 7#14 oz all up. Iron sights added, bottom metal is LW.

Branch Bull elk: M70 SS Classic in .338 Win Mag.

Mostly 280AI Montana. Before that a 7WSM Montana. Before that, a 280AI 700.

Might end up switched over to the Fieldcraft next year. We'll see.

Last year was a howa alpine 6 5 kreed w/ swfa 10x. This year it will be a tikka t3x superlite. 270 kueer w/ swfa 6x mil/mil (7lbs 11oz).

Kimber Montana in 280AI with a Leupold 3.5-10 VX3.

if just elk it's my M70 300 H&H, otherwise it's usually my M70 280 AI, both about 8lbs.

Rem 700 CDL 25-06 with a 6x Leupold, 115 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips.

Regards, Guy

Thompson Triumph with a 6x moa/moa swfa
Rem 700 264 win with a 10x moa/moa swfa
Win 70 270 wsm with a 10x moa/moa swfa

That's a great combination. The .25-06 doesn't get the respect it deserves since everybody went stupid over 6.5s. The 6.5s are touted for their bullet selection. To me that is BS because not many people use their hunting rifle for serious target shooting AND hunting. It's the same argument the .270 haters use to knock it. But realistically a .25-06 AND a .270 are primarily traditional hunting rifles. There's plenty of bullets to cover that role. For a .270 Win. the 100 grain for varmints, the 130 for deer or hogs, and the 150 for deer, hogs, and elk or other large game. That about covers what it does real well. For the .25-06 the 87 grain has been a good varmint load and sometimes deer too. The 100 grain is good for large varmints and antelope and deer. The 110, 115, and 120 about covers anything else it's suitable to shoot which can include Antelope, deer, hogs and even elk. Neither the .270 or the .25-06 are known as a target rifles so no bullet manufacture ever made serious Hi BC Target loads for either of them. So what do you need more bullets for?

T/C Triumph, unscoped, for ML season. Nula or Kimber Montana during rifle season.

My MG Arms Ultralight goes everywhere with me now. It is a 7STW but kind of wish it were just a 280. I threw a 19 oz scope on it so all up it weighs 7#. Its a joy to carry. Thinking I need one in 22 or 6 Creemoor too.

308 Montana when I’m moving, 270 Classic when I’m parked....

Tikka T3 308 with at 20" barrel topped with a 2x7 Redfield (Very easy to carry. Probably my favorite for backcountry.)
Tikka TC 270 SS 22 barrel Vortex 3x9
Just purchased at 257 Roy Vanguard Backcountry model. Weighs 6lbs10oz with a fluted barrel. Have not used it yet

my having total faith in the dependability and effectiveness ,
in what I carry far out-weights any concern over rifle weight
Ive carried a SAKO 375 H&H on many back pack hunts
loaded with a 300 grain bullet over a stiff load of WW760 has never failed to drop a single deer or elk Ive shot, I
gladly accept the 8.5 lb weight and moderate recoil, after all you only need that one or two shots a season.

if a pound or two of extra rifle weight, keeps you from checking out the next ridge or canyon,
how in hell are you going to pack out 60-90 lbs of elk meat on several return trips,
from the spot you drop that elk?

http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/d...;type=rifle&Order=Powder&Source=

A compact 375 has got to be a terrific rifle!

For about the first 10 years that I hunted, my only rifle was a .30-06 Herter's U-9 that I put together in 1967. I used it for all of my mule deer, pronghorn antelope, and elk hunting. It weighed right at 10 pounds.

In 1977 I had that .30-06 re-chambered to .30 Gibbs. For the next 20 or so years It was my primary elk rifle that I also carried on 2 DIY Shiras moose hunts, 2 solo DIY mountain goat hunts, and on a DIY Alaskan caribou hunt. It still weighs 10 pounds.

Also in 1977 I built a .257 Ackley Improved on a Mauser Mark X action. It still is my primary deer and antelope rifle, and I also carried it on about a dozen DIY bighorn sheep hunts in various Montana unlimited sheep units, including one solo back pack hunt where I didn't see any rams, but I couldn't resist a white tipped dark antlered 330" 6 x 6 bull elk that walked by me on the last day. A 117 grain Sierra GameKing instantly dropped him. I also used this rifle on a back pack hunt in Canada's Mackenzie mountains for a Dall sheep, mountain caribou, and a wolverine. This rifle also weighs 10 pounds.

For the last 8 or so years, I have a stainless steel/Tupperware stocked Rem 700 in 7 mm RM that is my foul weather "everything" rifle. I've used this rifle, with 160 grain Accubond bullets, for deer, antelope, elk, and on two Canadian caribou and a Muskox hunts. It weighs 9 1/2 pounds.

My favorite rifle now is my .300 Weatherby Vanguard. It's blued and I stocked it in AA Fancy walnut. Its my primary elk rifle, and I've also used it on five international hunts, including probably my hardest backpack ever hunt, for Dagestan Tur in Azerbaijan. Loaded and with its sling, it weighs 10 1/4 pounds.

I most often carry either a 7 pound .300 H&H or a 9 3/4 pound 6.5X284.

Both are customized Rem 700s with McMillan stocks. Both have their place.

Now that I a Barrett Fieldcraft 308 the mules are having an easier time of it.

When I carry a rifle it's my old reliable Post 63 Model 70 Push Feed .270 Winchester. I bought the rifle with a Redfield straight 4X on it in September, 1966 at the beginning of my senior year in high school. I've had it ever since and killed about 50 Deer with it. It was the first rifle I ever bought for myself. It has a 22" barrel (Up until the last 5 years I always wished it had a 24" Barrel), it handles like a dream and is accurate to within 1 MOA with my pet load and and if I do my part. I've got other rifles I love too, but this one is my go to baby. She's a sweet heart and a dear slaying dude.

What do I carry?

All that I own.

I hunt nearly 100% on foot and many times in the hills or mountains. So there is no rifle I don't carry.

In the summer if I go back-packing, and I am not hunting, I carry an M-1 Garand many times, and if I want something to go inside my pack I carry an AR15 taken apart.

2 times I carried an AK47 with a folding stock.

The ARs and the AKs don't get "babied" at all, and I can let therm bang around and not worry about them. At times that's pretty cool. I use them and carry them with the same mindset I carried rifles when I was a Marine.

If the stock is wood, I tend to try to keep it in good shape, (even my M1 Garand or my excellent condition Mosin Nagant.)

But metal or plastic gets about the same level of care of a hiking staff.